


Through Which Eyes

by Primarybufferpanel (ArwenLune)



Series: The Brothers Opress [1]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brothers, Gen, It's A Learning Process, look Maul was not equipped to have a brother, vaguely Soft Wars adjacent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:53:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26619247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArwenLune/pseuds/Primarybufferpanel
Summary: “I don’t want a Sith Master."Savage’s voice is quiet and heavy, like this is the conclusion of an idea long carried, carefully held close between his hearts until he was ready to say it. The words hit Maul like his own Master’s force lightning used to.
Relationships: Darth Maul & Savage Opress
Series: The Brothers Opress [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1936447
Comments: 15
Kudos: 116





	Through Which Eyes

“I don’t want a Sith Master." 

Savage’s voice is quiet and heavy, like this is the conclusion of an idea long carried, carefully held close between his hearts until he was ready to say it. 

The words hit Maul like his own Master’s force lightning used to, concussive blow followed by searing, disorienting pain. They cause much the same shocked, almost frantic spin of thoughts as Sidious’s lightning always did. 

_But why? Did I not—how did I fail you?_

Savage is still standing there, braced but steady as a mountain, and he has been such welcome company these past months. Maul’s effectiveness has benefited from having such a strong and talented apprentice, and the idea that he has failed, that his apprentice is leaving—has he failed for Savage to even dare say this? Certainly Maul would have never dared to say it to Sidious, would never have conceived of the idea that he _could_. 

Or has he failed in his education in the dark side, for Savage to not see its advantages, for his brother to give it up like this?

Sidious would have killed Maul, had he ever dared to rebel like this. Is that what Maul should do? Strike him down? He… finds he does not want to even if he should punish this rebellion harshly.

Maul’s thoughts are still spinning, and he has no idea how he should react, but he knows he won’t kill Savage. Let him walk away, if he would. If he’s not made for it. 

"I just want my _brother_.”

_Oh. Well._

Savage will take Feral, then. Not that Maul is invested in his youngest brother, who isn’t shaping up to be much of a Sith anyway. Quick and clever and handy with machines. Not… not unwelcome company, on a long flight, but nonetheless. Not much of a loss. 

Not like Savage, who pulled Maul out of the ruins of his former life and helped him to grow strong again. 

Not that it matters, if they both leave. 

Maul’s thoughts fly over the mission they’re on this planet for. It doesn’t seem so urgent, all of a sudden. Nothing he wants to stay for, now Savage is leaving with Feral. He’ll need to regroup, rework the plan so it will work with him alone. 

“Take him, then,” Maul says, steady, cold. He turns the pilot chair back to the console and starts the prep for departure, sets the engines to warming. 

He feels the shock of his words reverberate through Savage in the force, and—what was he expecting? Should Maul have tried to stop him? How? Perhaps Sidious would have hurt him, would have threatened worse. But Maul feels uneasy just at the thought of it. Savage was not raised to this the way Maul was. It would not make him stronger like it made Maul stronger.

“What? Maul, _no_!” Savage snaps, a growl of frustration in his voice, as if Maul has said something completely unacceptable. Maul turns back around, gathering the force around himself, prepared to shove his brother out the open ramp. He will not fight him. Not here. They’d destroy the ship.

Savage halts, hands open by his sides. 

“I do not want to take Feral and go,” he said, clearly straining for calm. “I mean _you_. I want you to be my _brother_ , not my Sith Master.”

The words make no sense to Maul, and Savage just keeps talking.

“I never wanted to be a Sith. It just seemed like the only way you would have me. I want you and Feral both to be my brothers. I want us to forget about this mission, this plan to gather power. I want us to go somewhere we can be free. And then I want the three of us to free all the Nightbrothers we can find.”

The _bewilderment_ of that first part—Maul has no idea what his brother wants from him if not a Sith master, and he loathes the uncertainty of that. But his unease settles as Savage starts to spin out a plan for a kind of settlement where Nightbrothers can be free from slavery.

That… is something Maul can do. He is his own Master, and with that comes the freedom to choose his own goals. He’s not sure what to do with—with the other stuff. But he’s had more than enough of Mother Talzin’s meddling, and a mission to free the Nightbrothers sounds like a satisfying use of his time until he figures it out.

He reaches out and flicks the engine sequence switches back off.

“I’m listening.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Through Which Eyes [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28361208) by [PoisonDoesPodfic (PoisonousCephalopod)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoisonousCephalopod/pseuds/PoisonDoesPodfic)




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